The Livy Method Podcast - Levelling Up Your Health with Dr. Paul Hrkal - Fall 2025

Episode Date: November 13, 2025

In this episode, Gina is joined by Dr. Paul Hrkal for an honest conversation about motivation, seasonal shifts, and why the “messy middle” of a weight loss journey can feel especially tough. Dr. Paul breaks down the impact of time changes, stress, and darker days on mood and metabolism, offering real-life strategies to help you stay consistent when energy dips and excuses creep in. Whether you’re nine weeks in or three years into your journey, this chat is packed with reminders to keep perspective, sabotage-proof your routine, and acknowledge the non-scale victories that matter just as much as the number on the scale.Where to find Dr. Paul:Instagram: @drpaulhrkalwww.paulhrkalnd.com If you are in the Fall 2025 Support Group, you can check out the full video here:www.facebook.com/groups/livymethodfall2025To learn more about The Livy Method, visit livymethod.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Gina Livy, and welcome to the Livy Method podcast. This is where you'll have access to all of the live streams for my 91-day weight loss program. With a combination of daily lives, guest expert interviews, and member stories, there is something new almost every day. Miss the morning live? Want to re-listen to one of our amazing guest experts? Well, this is the place. This podcast is hosted on ACAST, but it's available on all podcast platforms, including the one you're listening to right now, Spotify, Apple, and Amazon Music.

We're focusing on sustainable habits, not quick-fixing. It's an opportunity to get curious. We're here, help people get to their health goals. One piece of it a time. You build and build and build. Dr. Paul is joining us this morning. Hi, how are you? Good morning. Good morning.

Kids are a little sick. I think that's kind of happening going around. I'm sure people listening today are probably like, yep, I can resonate with that. I'm feeling under the weather, tired, sniffly. The time change, you know, happened a couple weeks ago. So that really kind of doesn't have a lot of sunlight during the day and that affects our mood. So yeah, feeling a little down. But there's some strategies that I'm putting in place that I'm trying to keep my head afloat.

I haven't had to miss any work, which is good. Oh, that's good. Maybe you can share some of those. You know where people are at. So we're week nine in the program. they're fucking tired they're tired they're tired there's a lot going on the time change they can start to feel the stress of the holidays always and we went back and actually took a look at previous fall programs and always around week nine people are a little bit funky they're a

little bit pissy they're a little bit down you know for a variety of reasons maybe it's a tough time a year for people there's so much going on like where do we even start with that well you know what i think that's a that's a great place to start exactly where we kind of started I think the first thing is just, you know, being real and realizing that, you know, being on for three months in a row is, is a lot. And we can recognize that. I think just human nature, its first month is kind of like, you know, novel, I'm excited. And then, you know, just because of especially the fall program, there's a couple things that are happening. Usually it's kind of like the dog days of fall where it's kind of like getting darker and, you know, a lot of the, you know, activities really.

start full on and school and whether you're in midterms or whatever it is and your kids are going through that or you mean grandkids. And so I think it's in my experience, we have to really think about staying obviously consistent with the simple things that are going to make us successful. So focus on just the one foot in front of the other instead of focusing on, well, I got that I got 10 pounds to lose. And oh, it's week nine and I've only lost four and I'm freaking it out, you know, like that's going to further put your cortisol in an elevated space and it's going to further make it difficult for you to lose that weight. And so I think that's the first thing is perspective. Secondly, perspective. Yeah, I think we have to look at that there's some things

that are always in our lives looking to sabotage what we're trying to do, any positive things. Human nature is that we kind of defer to the lowest common denominator, which is couch, bowl of chips and let it ride. And I know that sometimes is calling a lot of people and it may even happen. I think that the habits you've built over the last, you know, almost three, you know, two months, let's call it. I think those are hopefully now strong enough that we can go back and make those the rule rather than the exception.

And then we really look at things like illnesses, injuries, stressors. Like I pulled my handstring, for example, working out. we're all human natures that we're always looking for excuses. So I always tell my patients, really try to sabotage proof your life at the point in the program. What's the conversation for people who've been here? A couple of members, like three months, Dr. Paul has been three years. Yeah, I know. I see them in my office.

Yeah. Again, everyone's on a different timeline and trajectory. Remember, if you're looking old. only at the scale, that's when you're susceptible to volatility where you're like, I haven't really made those changes. But what about all the other positive things, all the non-scale victory? So I look at all of that as part of the equation of motivation. So motivation is an equation that we, what we think, our external environment, the cues that we get.

And so I really encourage people to factor into that equation more than just one. value. You know, like it's almost like making a decision or making a kind of a thought pattern decision based on one piece of data. We have to look at everything in totality. And so like I would first of all say look at multiple things. Look at all the things that you're doing. But you know what? If you're three years in the program, I'm sure if you've been here for three years, you've seen some benefit in the scale. Oh yeah. You have to. Right. And things may be fitting better. And then, you know, maybe you're just losing weight slower than other people that you might be doing this along with. And that's okay.

We're on our own journey. So whether it's three months or three years, Gina, we still stay the course to be healthy. That's the whole goal why we're here. That's why we're waiting the first place. That's why we want to be in the first place. Yeah, it could be a motivation thing too. I think it just occurred to me when I read, you know, read that comment from Helen and from Pam, like the program is very systematic. So you're building, building, building, building.

And then some of these things becomes very automatic and just part of who you are. But also can get really messy with all the things that you're trying to do. And if you lose the plot with what your motivation is, and that can change. Sometimes it's weight loss. Sometimes it's just health. Sometimes it's healing after being sick. How do we level up our health without doing more? Because people are all like, do all the things.

There's so many things we do. Drink and water, eat, make them nutrient rich, manage your stress, manage your sleep, move your body do all these things which can feel like a lot so how do we cut through the noise of all of that and and level up our health and our wellness you've heard me say before gina you know the ultimate route to health is a simplistic one where you've heard me use the word simplify your life uh and that applies to not just the activities that you do that applies to everything you know I think it's about finding what sustains you, what inspires you on a daily basis that isn't going to necessarily take more money and more time for you to do. And maybe this is the place to start right

now is just auditing everything that you're doing and being like, what else, what am I putting in my life that is not serving me to get to, you know, ultimately my goal and my goal, my family's goal. And I can tell you right now, these are the people that I see in my office. They've spent the last 10 to 20 years working for everyone else's goals, but not their own. And, you know, when you start looking at it from the lens of, I'm not being selfish if I'm taking care of myself. Now, I think that's actually in order for you to take care of other people. I'm specifically talking to the caregivers, the moms here. There's a lot of people in the program that are going through that and can resonate the fact that, you know, I spent most of my last 20 years

driving my kids around different things. And now I'm trying to like get back some of that time and agency to take care of my own, my own health. So within that busy schedule, sometimes we have to say no. And that might be something you can't say no right now. But I have to say, you know what? I can't be on that board right now. I have to stop that. And I can tell you, I can see get absolute my patience. When they start downsizing and simplifying their lives, they have more time to just be in the moment with themselves when they exercise and when they do some deep breathing and meditation. That's where you start getting some of these deeper changes, Gina, in my experience. And I've seen hundreds of patients that really, they have to really make hard choices sometimes

to simplify. Yeah, I mean, we all bought into this program for weight loss, right? Like we're here for weight loss but I think you're you're not still here at this point sure absolutely you want to lose your weight but then but why do you want to lose your weight you want to you want to it's beyond just looking better fitting your butt into your jeans you probably just you're not feeling well it's affecting your life in other areas it's not just physical that's your mindset there's there's there's a lot going on there you see so many people who are coming to you intentionally to try to be healthier and you're in a very proactive profession not just really active.

Very much more active. What are the commonalities between people who are actually making change and then the same person that keeps coming in time and time again? And they just, it's like they're spinning their wheels. You're having the same conversations. They're not really going anywhere. What, what do you, do you see a difference in people? Yeah, I do you know, this is actually might be one of your most insightful questions you've

asked me. I have to give you a lot of credit for this because this is, this is cutting to like the core. of like what is the difference with between people that actually meet their goals and those ones that keeps being stuck yeah and I know that there's a lot of people listening right now that feel stuck yeah so I think the first of all we do not have a woe is me victim mindset I think that's one of the first and this is the this is the case in whether a person is recovering from anxiety depression after a car accident they have PTSD or somebody's trying to lose weight and deal with some nagging health issues.

Maybe you're not ill totally, but there's some little things that have kind of crept up. The patients that are always like, oh, this is my excuse. I have my mom to take care of. I got all this. And they come in and they say, look at all my problems, Dr. Paul.

And they list all this off. And then they haven't really done anything to change the environment, which continues to put them into those issues. Now, some of these issues are unavoidable. like aging parents are tough to sometimes deal with absolutely however it's the mindset of this is i'm so frustrated this is happening to me i'm always stressed also like when someone like when i asked the question hey how are you doing it seems like a very like basic thing hey how you doing gina and if the response is oh my gosh i'm like i'm so frustrated i'm so tired

i'm so stressed i remember my grandfather used to always say this he always said like you listed 10 things instead of being like, I know everyone has 10 things that they're stressed out about, but what are the 10 things that are actually going well for you that you can actually be thankful for? So to get out of the attitude, the victim attitude, like, woe is me, all this is happening, I'm not losing weight, I'm not feeling good, is trying to be grateful for things that you are happy for, that you have joy, that bring joy in your life. It doesn't change that those other 10 things that are frustrating are still there, but it totally changes the mindset. So that's point number one is that they switch from an attitude of victimhood to an attitude

of gratefulness for what they do have. And if you think long and hard about it, every single person has things they can be grateful. It can be as simple as I have five minutes every morning without the cacophony of kids to have a cup of tea. Like that. It could be something as simple as that. And then that breeds more and more of this positive energy and attitude that you're going to start looking at your situation with a different lens. And ultimately, that's going to decrease your stress response. Like, it's going to have a direct effect on your weight loss I just want to say, before you go into the second one, I love that it wasn't like be more organized, be more consistent. Like you guys hear that, right? It wasn't about anything that you

need to do physically and add more on your plate. It literally is just number one, your mindset. That can be a game changer. It's interesting. I was in the maintenance group yesterday with Odette. And we started out just kind of being like the way you can look at your life is so like, you know, like my dog. I had to put my dog down. And that's so sad and awful. Or we saved her life. She was a rescue. And she had 14 beautiful years living her best life. Right. And I could take so many scenarios throughout my life and where I'm at each day. And if you just automatically see it from the other side, it changes how you feel. By the end of that conversation, I felt lifted up. I had a more positive rest of my day. I went to bed last night without crying. Like, you have the

power to do that. And people in this program have the wherewithal and the skills and the tools to actually turn into that. So I love that's what that's what you started with. Okay. Number two. 100% because, you know, I couldn't agree more that what you just described is a shift in mindset that has a direct physiological meaning in your cells, in your body, effect. Yes. Because you just went from a, I'm down, I'm depressed, I'm unhappy to, I'm thankful. I'm looking at this positively. And like you said, I feel the difference.

But what people don't always realize that what that does directly is, is decrease your stress response in your body, makes your gut less permeable. You're going to decrease the hormone cortisol. Your dopamine in your brain is going to go from, I'm seeking a reward to like I am actually feeling satisfied. And that's going to end up being like, I'm not going to be reaching for that emotional eating crutch

that I look at at every 4 p.m. of every day. That's the beauty of that little shift in mindset. So the grateful person versus the victim person is the number one biggest thing that I see of people that are successful. And sometimes, you know, it can change over time. Like I start off with somebody in the first few visits where they come in with a whole laundry list of stuff and they can't get, they can't get over that. But why did that happen to me? But why am I still not losing weight? But they keep fixated on these things instead of like, wow, look at all the good things that are happening.

And then my weight starts going. that's the first thing you wanted to say something sorry I cut you off just you have the choice I used to do with my kids when they were like you know freaking out or you know whatever they were doing I'm like you have a choice here you can either choose to continue this and in which you're going to end up in your room or you're going to end up not going or you're going to end up not having or you can choose to feel differently to have a different outlook to have a different you know and and they would just look at me and they would be like okay let's go and then off they would be like it really can be as simple as that now it's hard to maintain that There's work, right? You can always be brought back down into the sad, the mad, the whatever feelings. It's work to maintain that positive mindset, journaling and staying, you know, being and, you know, gratitude and whatnot. Okay, let's move on to the second. It's like a muscle. You have to keep exercising it, right? Like if we don't do that, then, you know, I keep saying like, we are so used to being like, if I want to be fit and I want to be sculpt it and I want to have a six-pack and I want to have to be strong. I have to go to the

gym and I have to lift weight. I have to do hard things. You're not going to get any benefit by just getting on a bike and just gently moving your legs and then think, oh yeah, you don't work out. The same thing that happens with anything like you're practicing a skill, piano, or practicing being grateful. It is a skill and it's a muscle that has to be exercised in you. So you do have to practice that, Gina. And that's time. And that is something that you have to put towards it because we sit there and we we meditate and we pray and we're mindful and we think of that's wasting time that that's that that's the that's the that's the that's the knee-jerk reaction for most people and that is the biggest challenge uh that people have because they feel like they're not

being productive because when they go to the gym they see obvious i'm sweating i'm hurting i'm sore i did something but when they're sitting there and deep breathing and allowing themselves to process what they're feeling they've been classically conditioned by this culture that that's nothing and you know what historically we've because we have a lot more distractions now, we've been a lot more in tune with our spirit and our emotions and our psychology because we just haven't had as many things vying for our attention. But now it's so much harder to do that. It honestly is really hard to be spiritual and psychologically into because we're distracted AF.

Point number two. The second reason that I see people, the difference between people that are making progress and that are able to lose that weight and able to make those health changes is when they start becoming self-aware and when in subsequent visits the third and the fourth visit when they come in after a couple months if we start putting things in place they come to me and they start saying dr paul i notice this symptom happens when i do this so they actually become more aware and more mindful so if you've noticing that all of a sudden before you were just following the program like a recipe and like you've done every other program, every other weight loss thing that you've tried.

That's a good way to start. But that's not where we want you to finish. I think people to level up, you really want to now engage and then start being self-reflective and self-regulated. Because we talk about self-regulation all the time with our kids. We have to also be self-aware to realize that thing that I was doing, that thing that I was eating is having this effect, and I don't like that effect, and I'm going to change it. And no psychologist told you to do that, even no naturopathic doctor told you that.

I know people are on the right track when they come in and they start telling me what the issue is. That's how I know that they're making progress. That, because this is where I say to people, I don't know what's going on. They're right. I don't know what's going on. I'm so frustrated. I'm like, you tell me.

You tell me. You have listened to all these incredible guest experts, four reasons why your weight might be slower, supplements that are suggested and why. You know, there's so much resources and so many conversations that we've had that and people paying attention to what they're eating and each week changing their focus. You tell me why you think you're not losing weight, right? And that isn't like, you know, you know, you tell me. That's like, okay, take a minute and be like, why do you think? not what's wrong with you, what's going on with you. Is it your environment, what you have going on in your life?

Is it health issues? Is it that you want it badly, but you're not actually showing up and doing the thing? Sometimes that's what it is. That's where you tell us why you think your weight isn't moving. And then if you think it is a physical thing, this is where you seek out help, right? Like this is the whole point of having you on as a guest is to help people assess their own situation. that self-awareness so that they know and that gut feeling when you are in tune to asking the four questions of what to eat you know and and how you're feeling and all of that getting in

tune with with your portions that's getting that's helping you listen to your gut to be in tune so that intuition if something is off there's probably something off you keep eating a food and it just makes you feel eh and at the thought of eating that food you feel eh probably that's not a great food for you like i don't want to oversimplify it but it It is that easy. If people are struggling with this concept, because I'm sure there's people listening right now to us, you know, they're like, F that, you know, because I can't get there. I still feel sick.

There is a base level of knowledge that has to come before you start getting to this self-awareness. And so I think what you're talking about is this foundational knowledge is power. Now, that makes you a certain level. So people that have been through the program once or twice, they gain that knowledge. and then the cure is the rub now you start taking that a knowledge and applying it in a way that you are taking time to feel and to experience and review what you're what you're actually going through now sometimes it requires to get a specialist medical doctor's opinion to figure out why that's happening yes and that's part of your data collection so I call that kind of like

phase one so self get your own knowledge that's part of the program, take that knowledge and then I go in and do a little bit more research on my own. So if I have a skin issue, I'm going to go into state, take a look at that. If I have constant gut issues, I may work with a naturopath that figure that stuff out. But if I keep ignoring those things, that is the definition of being mindless. And so that applies to every single aspect of, do I need to finish that thing on my plate? Just all the things that people have been going through. And now we're taking it a step first. and we're applying that knowledge, seeking out the specialist expert opinion, if necessary.

And then once you have that information, there's a step that a lot of people, Gina, just don't want to do because they're scared to feel and they don't have even time to feel. So it's a time thing. And it's, in my experience, it's a fear thing. They don't want to allow themselves to feel because there's hurt there. There's, they feel like their body has betrayed them. There's a lot of baggage that has been stuff back there that you do have to kind of work through in order to get to the point that we just talked about where you are now able to be at a point where you're feeling and realizing what's happening in yourself. And now you can actually become your own ultimate health care provider.

Because ultimately, you know your body the best, but we've actually dulled and muted all those signs and symptoms over the years. and we've become mindless about our body rather than being proactive and engaged. I know that's a lot, and I know it's really in the world of psychology, but I can tell you, Gina, like every single live I've done with you for the last five years, I tell people the real truth of what I see with my patients. And to me, this is like the deep root cause. Well, this is like the, this is how you move forward, but if you're stuck or just spinning your wheels, like we just, you know, something tragic happens in your life, someone passes away. you want to be sad.

You feel like being sad makes you remember. You are sad. You just want to fester in the sad. Or you want to be mad. And it could be mad about, I don't know, the way you were raised. Something happened to you a long ago. You're still mad about it. You want to be mad about it.

And yet, it's not a matter of letting go. I think it's bringing awareness and working through those, those feels. And especially when it comes to dieting and losing weight. There's a lot to unpack this. Yes. There's so much for people to unpack there. but you can work on that and and move forward at the same time. It's, in fact, at some point, it's necessary.

So we talk about things like plateaus, right? So I've said this a thousand times. First couple programs, they usually people lose the most weight. And then they kind of like hit a plateau. And then they might lose a little bit more and they hit another plateau. And for some people, that first plateau is after two pounds. As frustrating as that might be, sometimes it's after 20 pounds. And they're like, awesome, I lost 20 pounds.

But then all the things that you've been doing over the last 20 or 30 years, you haven't really changed those habits. Like they're still there. But every single time the opportunity comes up that you, you know, see this particular person or you go back into this old relationship, you go back to old habits. And so you're, of course, going to be static. You know, like, you know, the living program helps you. fuel your metabolism, which is dramatically different than what most other programs do where

they starve you. So that's going to take you a certain way. But inevitably, someone's, you're going to hit a plateau. And then that's where that mindfulness and that's where that like really being engaged and insightful comes into play being like, okay, so I've hit this. What's still holding me back in my health? And think about your health, not just what is my shoulder doing and what is my gut doing. That is physiological. What is my psychology? What is my psychology? health? What is my spiritual health? These are all things that play a huge role. And sometimes it has to be going back to the fact that your mother called you fat when you were 12 years old. And that's the reason. I can't tell you how many times patients come to me, Gina, and say,

I remember that one time that one person said something. And ever since then, I've been emotion leading. And has that changed? Have you really worked through that? Or have you just try to diet your weight out of that? And then here you are. I know. I love this because that one person saying something to me is what sent me on a tangent to figure out why eating less and exercising more isn't working. And it occurred to me the other day I was, I was raging about like thin, fit fitness women who this is our, this is like our, this is what we should look like. And it's weird because I don't need to lose any weight.

Like I, you know, I look great. to someone else, I might be this, well, look at Gina. She's this thin, whatever version, unattainable version, you know, like this striving that's like not attainable for me. But I was really raging about it. And I was like, huh, I still think like a person in a larger body. And so this is, you know, this is exactly an example of that. And I was like, that was really mad.

But then there was this weird, I was looking at myself and be like, you know, you're kind of lean and fit yourself. And I mean, I'm not so fit. But, you know, people could say the same thing about me that I was saying about someone else. And so, yeah, I haven't let that go. That is 30 years ago. That was more than 30 years ago.

I'm not even going to tell you how many years ago that was. It's irrelevant the amount of time. It's really the impact that it's had on our mindset, on our psyche. Everyone has that type of piece. I think if we start looking at our health as a complete mind, body connection, a lot more things start making sense. If we try to keep this in a very physical sense, then unfortunately, Gina, for many people, it'll be stuck because that's going to only take you a certain level of the way.

And that's where a lot of people are right away knee jerk. They go, you know, OZMPIC, GLP1 because that's like really working on that physical. So for some people, they need that extra little help. But, you know, I always think about, okay, so let's do this. what's the off-ramp? Like, what's the, what's the end goal? Like, what's the end goal that you're trying to get here? So you want to get into a size two bikini.

Is that your goal? And then what happens, are you willing to be on this thing for the rest of your life? I think we have to think about some of these things through. Because ultimately, that's a tool, but then the deeper root cause, which is what natural public doctors do, what we just talked about, it's at some point, Gina, it's going to have to be addressed if you want to really get. to being well and healthy? It is a tool.

It's a tool. It's not a diet. And this is what I was just at the obesity comrades in Atlanta. It's not a diet. It's not a lifestyle change. Like, for example, they know that people who are taking weight loss medications, GLP ones, whatever you want to call them, the name changes every week of sleep like. And they are like they're a game changer for people.

But we know people spend less money on groceries, but they don't buy healthier groceries. And this comes to real change. I think the takeaway today is like, I know everyone wants to lose weight, but is it just about fitting into your genes? Or, and even if it is, that's okay, what is that going to mean to you? And what is the kind of real change that you need to make to be able to sustain that lifestyle? It's not just you fitting into those genes. It's the person who is in those genes, how you think, how you feel, how you show up in life.

That's well said. It's not the, it's not just fitting in the jeans. it's the person that's in the genes. How healthy is that? And I think our definition of health has been so focused on weight only. I think we have to look at and expand it to a broader sense. And I feel like I'm like a broken record on that. Like I'm always stuck on saying, you know, I need to look at weight in the same way that you

look at something like hypertension, you know, like so it's a symptom and they're connected and we want to reduce both of them. but you could does that mean that you're unhealthy you know there's ways of improving other things like we I don't know how many times maybe this is just my algorithm on on Instagram and socials where everyone's talking about like lean muscle mass like lean muscle mass is the be all and end all when it comes to longevity like ultimately at the end of the day like what do we really want we want to live long and healthy and be strong and if you're 130 pounds rather than 115 pounds and you live to 95, isn't that the goal?

Like, just think about that for a second. Like, you know, is it, is being 115 pounds going to get you to your goal? It's going to get you to your goal in your mirror on a very superficial level. But, you know, we have to keep our eye on the big prize, which is, I think, in my opinion, is being present and healthy and able for you and your family for the long term. Ah, I mean, as always, we've left so much on the table still to talk about because I I was going to ask you when we went, we kind of like, we talked about taking care of aging parents. And, you know, just thinking about our demographic here, many are, you know, either still trying to, you know, get kids out of the house, but also taking care of their aging parents.

Like, what can we do to age and not need our children to take care of ourselves? Or like, that might be the motivator, that longevity piece. I know you just mentioned muscle. Like, you know, being able to, you know, have that muscle mass is a game changer. I know we don't have time, but, no, I mean, like, okay, we, let's talk about it, you know, let's take a couple minutes. I have it. I think that's a, this is a really important point. It's like, think about where you want to be right now, like, where do you what, what's your kind of like short-term vision and then what's your kind of long-term vision

and reverse engineer it? Like, what does it look like when you're, if you're 65 right now, what do you want to look at 75? Because the research shows at 75, our physical function falls off a cliff meaning it really becomes problematic and we kind of see that right like you know people get 75 and they now need to use a cane or a walker or they can do you want to be able to take care of yourself physically and do all the activities of day living and maybe a little bit more at 85 yeah that's like a real big goal and that's if you want to prevent yourself going down that route that maybe you're seeing your parents do right now that starts now and the biggest thing is is not just losing all the weight that you think you want to do.

That's part of it, Gina. It's about how strong are you? And I just had this conversation with my mom. My mom is a mid-60s woman, healthy. She was a physiotherapist. Generally, you know, not overweight, had a bunch of pelvic floor surgery done recently. And, you know, I had a conversation with her. I said, Mom, you walk all the time.

You're the queen of walking. Love doing that. are you doing any sort of resistance training? Are you doing strength training? Oh, yeah, not really, not enough. That's all full stop. I know exactly why some of those things are happening that as we get older, we're not able to do the things like pick that grocery thing up because,

oh, I can't because I'm not strong. So I think that's the first piece is that we look at how do we become, how do we keep ourselves physically able and strong? there's five key areas of physical exercise. And I'll give everybody a sneak peek into this if you don't mind. Number one, you have to walk. You have to have 8,000 steps a day. That's what the research shows. Now walking is not cardio, nor it's resistance. And I've put it in its own category because it is helpful for our mind-body connection because we move and we process. But to be honest, it's mindless and allows us to do that. Right. So it's good for blood flow. It's good for limb flow. But it

doesn't do anything else other than that. You feel fantastic after a walk. You feel, my mom is actually, I can tell my mom is watching this right now. So I got, I got my mom a personal trainer. I mean, a couple years ago, mom, I think at this point, she can kick my ass. I'm pretty sure she can outwalk me, outlift me. Like, I swear I got at this point, she'll outlive me. It's been a game change for her.

She also has a great community and she's super active. I know she just heard the 8,000 steps and she's like, yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, that's, but that's step one. But here's the, here's the rub, though, on this one, Gina. Most people's exercise stops there, though. Because they'll tell me, I exercise. Yeah, I walk. Great.

Okay, you walk. So you're able to, what that tells me is you're able to walk, but are you able to lift your grand kid up? Nope. Yeah. I want to just stop right there real quick. Someone's like, what if I have bad needs? What if I have a bad hip?

Well, this is where you have to like, you have to want to figure out a way to move even more, right? Because that's not going to get you in a good direct. Get physio. There's other things that you can do. have to be like, okay, I need to address this because that is going to affect your, your health span, right? Okay.

I say the exact same thing. I said, okay, do you need any replacements? Go take a look. Go find them. Go get that done. Do you, is it a muscular, myofascial? You know what? Go and work with somebody to help figure that out.

It's like whatever your key issue is. Like, if your key issue is hormones and gut and energy, come see someone like myself. That's like the key thing. But if your key issue is, I have aches and pain. pains, I have frozen shoulder, go see a physiome Cairo, and don't be cheap about it and go ahead and do it every single week for a month. Really, really, really go full on. A lot of people, they're like, I had a patient tell me this other day, you know what? And they were proud of themselves when they said that I have a massage twice a year. You know, I was like, what? Did she, like,

twice a year. I mean, like, but that's, but I'm just showing you that that's the mentality that some people have that, yeah, you know what? That's kind of what I get. Yeah. And a lot of times, it's like, No, I got tickets to go to this thing that are hundreds of dollars, but I don't have money to, like, take care of my knees that I need to walk every single day. Priorities? Yeah. I got the newest pay V. It's sexy, but, you know, I can't move my shoulder because, oh, no, it's too expensive, Doc.

I can't do it. Anyways, that's a bit of my... Real quick. Let's go through the last four. Number two, cardio. You got to get your heart rate up above 120, above 120. So that, if you're bad knees, elliptical, aerobics, aqua, there's a lot of different ways. ways of doing it. So you've got to get your heart rate up over 120. Now, ideally, you'd be

challenging even more, but that's harder as you get older, which like, you know, that's a bit more of a higher performance thing. But just got to get your heart rate up, maybe twice a week. Two or three times a week, you have to strength train, which is either bands, resistance, weights of some, it can be at home. It does not have to be a gym. Not everyone's a gym. But I'll tell you, like your mom found out, a personal trainer to start is an amazing gift to give somebody for Christmas, two or three sessions, just to kind of figure out what you need to do. The chiropractor that I work with is all about exercise.

And we say, hey, what's your physical limitations? Let's give you a personalized plan that's safe with your current physical capacity that you can do that. Right. So there's ways of tailoring that. Number four, you need some sort of flexibility and or core. So Pilates, it's awesome. I love that.

It could also be as simple as stretching in front of the TV when you're watching it with your hubby, you know, in the evening. Simple as that. Some people do things like yoga. There's a lot of options. You need flexibility. This is really, really, really important. And that's a four or five times a week thing, just even if for 10 minutes, even it could be

as a warm up or a cool down after you do one of those other exercises. Number five, I recently just added some kind of physical sport or activity that has a degree of coordination and socialization. Yeah, like pickleball. Pickle ball is like a great example, but it could be like ping pong. You may not want to be on a court. It's all about training your brain.

This is a big thing in the back of your head called the cerebellum that you are contacting a ball. It could be a badminton. It can be a golf ball. It could be a bunch of those types of things that are contacting, something that you have to maintain your balance. And the socialization pieces.

is important. So it's like you're doing something fun. Go do something fun that's active. Anyways, I'm off my soapbox. Five points. Move your body. You know, listen, you know, I like to hear it straight from you.

And there's people who are like, it's a lot easier said than done. This is not easy. I know that. And we are all starting at different places. And maybe you can do not all of the things. It's really understanding that this is, this is about,

this is more than just losing your weight. Yes, we're doing it in a healthy way. But when a conversation moves to longevity, and health span versus lifespan and being able to continue to carry your own groceries and walk upstairs and not have someone take care of you, it might be hard and unpleasant and, you know, you might not want to make time for these things. But it's just we also have to have the real conversations about it too, right? And if if you have a bad hamper you can't walk, this is where you might want to put a little bit more emphasis rather than just waiting and dealing with

it later, being like, okay, this is really going to affect my life. The same thing with fitness it sucks guys i hate doing my workouts tony dragged me out for you know this morning like we've been walking every day my dog now is a motivator to get outside and spend the last few days you know time that we have with her so it's amazing i have time for that now i didn't have time for a walk last week but now i know that i got to put my dog down oh i'm making all the time in the world right so i know it's not an easy conversation and i don't want to disregard the work that you were already doing and so if you feel like you're maxed out and that's enough sometimes that's how it's it is. But you know, Dr. Paul, I always love our conversations. I always love your straight talk.

Like, I'm here for it. I mean, we've been having these conversations for so long. And every single time, I'm just like, wow, best conversation ever. I just, it's about forward thinking. It's, it's about building on in the, especially for those of you who've been here for three years. Tell me that every time we have a conversation, you don't learn something new, right? And that's what it's about being open to receiving the information to. So thank you. Yeah, I appreciate that. If I can leave people with this is that a lot of times people come in the door because they want to lose weight. And then hopefully what they're hearing from us is that it's about optimizing your health and being, you're reaching your current potential within the current capacity that you have. And that's different for everyone.

And that might mean that you won't be able to do your full ideal workouts until you retire in a couple of years or until your mom gets in that home. And that's fine. Put that intention there and work towards it. instead of saying, I'll get there when that happened. So put something towards it right now. And here's the magic that happens is that when you start taking the emphasis off, oh my God, I'm still at one, I'm still at 210. I'm not at my goal.

Yeah. And put it on to, you know what, I'm going to put the weight scale number, not away. I'm just going to put it on the back burner. And I'm going to focus on trying to be as healthy within my current capacity. What often happens in my experience with my patients is that that scale starts moving when you start doing all these other things. We talked about being grateful. We talked about leaving that victim mindset away.

We talked about really looking at trying to take time to be insightful and simplifying, giving yourself your brain, your mind, space to actually feel and then start to process some of the things that your body has been trying to tell you and it's currently trying to tell you. and then you can implement some of these extra things. It can seem like a lot, but it's doable. It is. It is, yeah. Yeah, I think that was good, Gina, thanks.

It was good. Yeah, go back. Everyone who's listening. Listen again. There's so many good tidbits and takeaways. There's a lot of conversation happening today, but a lot of good tidbits and takeaways within this conversation. Go back and listen again.

Dr. Paul, as always, thank you. You can reach out to Dr. Paul Herkelnd.com. If you want to check out his website, You can also follow him over on Instagram at Dr. Paul Herckel. Thanks, everyone watching us live. All your comments and your questions, we see them. Thank you. And anyone listening after the fact.

Dr. Paul, always a pleasure. Is there our last conversation? For this session, it is, yeah. This session. Already looking forward to our next conversations. Thanks so much for joining us. See him. Everyone.

Bye-bye. Thank you. Thank you.